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Ho Chi Minh trip
posted : Saturday, July 13, 2013
Bet you didnt think that there will be posts here anymore do you. Hur hur.
Anyway...the first of my back logged posts...here goes. I honestly wasn't thinking of going on a trip anytime soon...my first priority for this year was always Australia and I was planning to do it in October...so March was still too early for me to plan for it. So happens during my trip back home in March...one day Winnie just texted me to ask if I will be available/interested in a trip to Ho Chi Minh. Then I thought....why not. Though I did tell them I had to check with my covering colleague first for formality sake la. Booking tickets and hotel booking moved quite fast though. Remembered that was the period when I just came back from my long holiday and I have freaking lots of work to clear so didn't really have the heart to do research and what not. Almost as if my heart is not in it. I intended it to be a free and easy and relaxing trip so I almost didn't want to do any research also...but think in the end I din really need to do it...tag along only lah hehe. Eveline did most of the research, even coming up with self made maps filled with attractions and makan places within District 1, which turned out to be pretty helpful. The last bit on booking and confirming tours for Mekong and Cu Chi Tunnels came nearer to our departure date.
Got a bit tense and excited in the end as departure date drew closer...coz had housing issue to settle during that period which was kind of stressful...so great to have sort of a break. Then the night before departure..think Eveline was doing online check in and she asked over whatsapp our passport expiry dates...that was when Winnie realize that I have less than half a year to expiry and technically I am not allowed to travel! Flight was on 24 May and my cut off was on 23 May. Hahahaha I was almost prepared to not be able to go (or go there but get deported back to Malaysia lol). It was almost comical I duno whether to laugh or worry about it...in the end just got a reminder by the check in counter staff saying I am all clear to go...one day late and I won't be able to make the trip. Whew. Off we go, then!
Reached Ho Chi Minh at around 2+ in the afternoon..we booked airport transfer but our ride was stuck in the traffic so we ended up waiting for more than half an hr before heading to the hotel. First impression of Saigon traffic - think drivers ae very skillful ba otherwise how on earth di they avoid all the jaywalkers lefft right and centre? And pretty impatient too coz lots of honking all the time..got kind of annoyed at first ("what is there to honk seriously"). Reached hotel, checked in, drop off our luggage and head out to explore in no time!
Sign to "welcome" us to HCM.
HCM airport arrival hall - open air like Brunei's ahahaha
Straight to the hotel - Silverland Central by Tan Hai Long group.
One of our rooms. The other one was similar.
Indirect view from our window, not too bad except we dont get to see it often.
Peeps were hungry so our first priority was to look for pho...unfortunately it started raining within half an hour so we escaped into the first restaurant with shelter and it turned out to be a Chinese restaurant where we had things like 扬州炒饭 and 烧肉饭 =.= Attempted to look for this famous Pho restaurant which unfortunately was wrongly marked out on the map and we got a bit lost looking for it. Eventually had to walk for like an hour before we find it (including a stopover at a cafe so that we can make use of the Internet to look for directions hahah). The pho itself, hmm not sure if we eat it the wrong way or what but it didn't taste fantastic...seeing the locals piling "grass" and all sort of sauces into the soup but it wasn't appealing to us...hmm different "taste" I suppose. Then the long walk back to District 1, where we took a stroll along Dong Khoi street...practicing jaywalking skills lol. And visiting the night market outside Ben Thanh too.
Pretty central hotel location..
First meal which wasnt really Vietnamese lor..other than the coffee?
Stumbled upon a cafe on our must try list so we went in to borrow their wifi..to look for directions haha.
Coffee was quite good. Really nice ambience too!
Finally found the pho place which was way out of District 1 at District 3.
Pho with all the grass....apparently you are supposed to use up all leh.
Iconic landmarks like City Hall at night.
Busy streets..
Night market outside Ben Thanh..sellers know all sort of languages from Chinese to Malay, thought I heard a couple of Hokkien and Cantonese phrases too....
Day 2 was our designated tour day...tour guide got a bit lost coz he went to the wrong Silverland Central hotel (seriously, they can be more creative with the names de lor...even if they are owned by the same group). Asked him for recommendations of a good cafe and he brought us to one which he thought was great (while constantly bashing the other more well known chains like Trung Nguyen - "number one coffee from bottom"). Hmm I do drink a bit of coffee though I never really know how to differentiate good ones and not so nice ones...all I can make out of Vietnamese coffee is that it is very gao hahahaha. Anyway after a detour..we moved on to our first stop, Cu Chi Tunnels, which was about 1.5 hour drive from our hotel.
Drip drip drip.
Off to Cu Chi tunnels..tour guide knows his stuff (who wouldnt after a number of years as a tour guide?)
One of the bunkers...now shows documentaries i think.
One of the many booby traps designed to kill. *shudders*
Hiding places...I wouldnt have fit inside.
Into the tunnels we go!
Honestly dunno how I get THAT exhausted after the tunnels...supposedly only 20m HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE IT FELT LIKE 1KM. :s Sweating buckets by the time we came out and thankfully soon after that we are on our way to Mekong River tour and boat ride already. Agenda is to have lunch at one of the restaurants on the river (kinda like Kampong Ayer hahah) and to visit some of the islands along the way. Honestly memories of the names are very vague already (only remembered a Phoenix island). So touristy that there are opportunities for you to spend extra $$ everywhere (think a portion of the fee we paid for the tour is for the "freebies" we get along the way).
Travelled to this township (forgot the name already) and boarded a motorboat from a jetty (yea lousy description I know)
Then switched to a smaller boat so that we can navigate the smaller (is that even the right word to describe?) streams.
Lunch - i think this is called elephant ear fish or sth. Scrape the meat off it, wrap it inside rice paper with an assortment of ingredients which predictably included "grass", and tamarind sauce which stole the limelight. Was quite nice. Other dishes are so so and we didnt bother taking pics.
Cutest puppy ever.
Post lunch - visiting coconut candy factory. Other activities included visiting bee farm and village (with fruits that arent too foreign to us and Vietnamese girls singing to us haha. A bit rude to take pics of them singing especially when we are the only audience lol)
Kind of drizzled throughout..but good la at least not too hot.
Damn tired by the time we got back to D1 (which was another 2 hour drive or so) so we only had dinner and a bit of window shopping on our agenda.
Day 3 was designated as the day we tackle the rest of the attractions in D1..lots and lots of walking I don't even know how we managed it...considering everybody is aching from the tunnel walk the day before (seriously it was that bad...flinched every time we had to climb stairs).
First stop: Reunification Palace
One of the many many halls and rooms where President meet his guests..stayed close to a Caucasian couple with a private tour guide throughout so that we can catch some of the explanations too LOL.
Next, War Remnants Museum...not for the faint-hearted..rather depressing place. Actually amazed that the Vietnamese don't loathe or ban Americans from entering their country.
Stroll across the district to the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Artists sketching the cathedral.
Next to it, Central Post Office.
Went on a hunt for our French restaurant but couldnt find it (staff at the hotel right opposite it pointed us in another direction =.=) Ended up in a bakery for lunch.
A security/police officer walked up and very rudely went "yo, no pictures!" after I took this. Actually dont see a problem with taking pictures, who ever bans tourists from taking photos at tourist attractions?!
Into Saigon Square and Saigon Centre for a bit of shopping but didnt really get anything..then off to Saigon Skydeck we go!
View from the tallest building in HCM.
This happens whenever we go to a place with free wifi.
Winnie's colleague recommended this restaurant so we tried it out. Food was not bad. And it's just really relaxing to sit and chat for a couple of hours.
Manage to squeeze in a bit of last minute shopping on the morning of Day 4...visited Ben Thanh for the first time, which I find odd considering it is just next to our hotel. Winnie and Chris haven't given up on pho yet and wanted to try one of the typical pho chains, verdict was it tasted nicer than Pho Hoa (tour guide:"Pho Hoa is TERRIBLEEEE" lol I can still picture him saying that). Chionged to Les Jardins for French lunch coz we refused to leave HCM without proper French food...it was then we found out how cheap taxi fares in HCM were and regretted for not taking them more frequently. Then caught our airport transfer to the airport...
Daily dose of ca phe sua da.
Pho 2000..didnt try it, but others thought it was not bad.
Finally made it into Ben Thanh market...guess being so close to our hotel, we didnt feel the urgency to go in and see see look look until the last morning.
Really like this shirt and would have bought it if it wasnt the last piece and it looked like it has been there for ages (dusty and look a bit discolored?) Almost got cursed for taking a picture of it but sneaked away fast enough.
Finally found the restaurant...it wasnt open yesterday, and it was pretty hidden.
The seatings outside.
Duck leg confit was good!
Chocolate mousse presentation could be better I suppose? But taste ok.
Haha too colourful to be real :P But each of us ended up with one new bag lol.
Look like cap but its really a safety helmet.....not sure how useful it is.
Preparing to go home!
Bye HCM! (This wasnt actually our plane LOL)
That concludes my HCM trip...overall I think I quite enjoyed the trip, oddly relaxing for some reason although now that I look back, our schedule was quite packed. But I think it is always fun to explore new places I have never been to...experiencing a different culture, something different from our daily lives which gets mundane after a while. Also first traveling experience with this group of people and it went quite well :) Though I don't see myself coming back to Ho Chi Minh or Vietnam anytime soon (or ever), it did inspire me to try to conquer at least one city for each South East Asian country...so far I have 5 countries! Next possible targets are Jakarta (not Bali coz I reli am not a beach person) and Manila (separate trips) and lumping Laos Myanmar and Cambodia in one trip. Wonder if I am being too ambitious hahaha.
Anyway it has been two months since I came back from the trip...and I already have one planned! More on that in other posts!
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